Midterm

Question 1

supererogatory

Answer 1

payment beyond what is due or asked; more than what you want or need

Question 2

Utility (as used by Mill)

Answer 2

Measure of pleasure and pain; pleasure itself, absence of pain

Question 3

Euthyphro dialogue

Answer 3

socrates runs into Euthyphro outside the courthouse. Euthyphro is charging his dad with murder. one of his servants murdered someone, so he threw him in a ditch and he died.

Question 4

what is piety

Answer 4

what is dear to the Gods is pious and what is not dear is impious

Question 5

What is the Euthyphro dilemma?

Answer 5

Is a wrong action wrong because God forbids it or does God forbid it because it is wrong?

Question 6

What are the two options to the Euthyphro dilemma?

Answer 6

option 1: A is wrong because God forbids it

Option 2: God forbids A because A is wrong

Question 7

What is the problem with option 2 in the euthyphro dilemma?

Answer 7

there is no answer to the truth maker question. God drops out of morality. Moral standard of morality is independent of God; it changes is God is involved in the moral argument

Question 8

How would a theist answer the truth maker question to Euthyphro Dilemma

Answer 8

option 1: God’s not going to command us in the wrong way; God’s will and command come fro his nature which is perfectly good
Option 2: objective moral truths are made truly by gods nature or created order

Question 9

Hypothetical imperative

Answer 9

If you want x, do y

Question 10

Categorical imperative

Answer 10

do x

Question 11

What are maxims

Answer 11

Reason for acting; when we act, we act according to maxims

Question 12

Universal law formulation of the categorical imperative

Answer 12

“act only in accordance with that maxim by which you can at the same time will that it should become a universal law”

whether you could will that everyone act just as you do and on your maxim

Question 13

What does it mean for a maxim to be universal

Answer 13

Everyone can act on that maxim; an action is wrong if and only if its maxim isn’t universal. An action is permissible if and only if its maxim is universal

Question 14

How to determine whether an action is wrong or permissible according to the universal law formulation of the categorical imperative

Answer 14

Step 1: figure out the maxim
Step 2: can you imagine a world in which everyone act on that maxim
Step 3: could you rationally will that everyone act on your maxim? can the goal of the action be achieved in such world?

Question 15

Universal law formulation of the categorial imperative on lying promises

Answer 15

Contradiction in conception; breaks down at step 2; if everyone is making lying promises, we’d lose trust; promises would break and use value

Question 16

Universal law formulation of the categorical imperative on suicide

Answer 16

There is a contradiction: we are made to survive, not everyone would kill themselves when miserable. There is a biological law to preserve life

Question 17

Universal law formulation of the categorical imperative on not cultivating talents

Answer 17

Contradiction in step 3. if no-one cultivated their talents, we wouldn’t have an easier life

Question 18

Universal law formulation of the categorical imperative on not caring about others

Answer 18

Contradiction in step 2. we naturally will to have others help us and a will to help others

Question 19

Problem with the universal law formulation

Answer 19

The theory says some act is wrong that we don’t think is wrong. the theory says some act s wrong that we think is wrong

Question 20

Examples of the problem with the universal law formulation

Answer 20

Withdrawing all of your money to retire, train in curling to be a professional and live a comfortable life, and making a lying promise to get money for a wax sculpture of your mom. Kant would say these are wrong, but we don’t find them wrong

Question 21

Humanity as an end in itself formulation

Answer 21

” act in such a way that you treat humanity, whether in your own person or in any other person, always at the same time as an end, never merely as a means”: we should respect other people by not using them as mere props or tools to get what we want

Question 22

Determining if an act is wrong or permissible according to the humanity as an end in itself formulation

Answer 22

step 1: isolate the maxim
step 2: who is involved
step 3: would anyone not consent to their part if they knew the true maxim?
step 3a: for each person, suppose they have full knowledge of all features
step 3b: see I each person would consent

Question 23

mere vs mere means

Answer 23

using someone to check you out at the grocery store is using them as a means. using someone to get money by making a lying promise is using them as a mere means, whenever coercion (manipulation) is involve, it is not right because no one would consent to it

Question 24

Do Kantian believe in objective moral truths?

Answer 24

Kant and mill both fit best as objectivist, Kant is supposed to maximize utility, so yes he believes in objective moral truths

Question 25

Deontological ethics vs consequentialist ethics

Answer 25

deontological ethics focuses on judging the actions themselves while consequentialist focuses on judging the moral truth of the actions.
Deontological ethics would rather focus on whether or not an action is correct while the consequentialist would focus on the consequences of the action

Question 26

What kind of imperative is the moral law?

Answer 26

Law of morality is the categorical imperative as it would require someone to do something irrespective of ones aims or goals; do something regardless of the aftermath

Question 27

Consequentialism

Answer 27

the moral status of an action depends exclusively on the actual consequences of that action: what are the consequences of that action?

Question 28

welfarism

Answer 28

The relevant consequences are the actions effects on the welfare of the people; in particular, what are the actions consequences on individual human welfare

Question 29

Hedonism

Answer 29

the view that humans psychologically constructed in a way that we aways desire pleasure; an individuals welfare is a matter of the balance of subjective pleasures and pains he/she experiences; what are the actions consequences on the subjective experiences of individuals?

Question 30

Equality

Answer 30

everyones welfare counts equally; for each individual affected by the action, aggregate the pleasures she would experience and that pains she would experience. this is the balance of pains and pleasures for that individual. now take the balance of pains and pleasures for each person and weigh them equally

Question 31

What Mill thinks about how pleasures differ in quality and how we determine which pleasures are a higher quality

Answer 31

A pleasure is of higher quality if people would choose it over a different pleasure even if it is accompanied by discomfort and if they would not trade it for a greater amount of the other pleasure; those that appeal to their “higher faculties”; Id rather be a human dissatisfied than a pig satisfied; id rather be a dissatisfied Socrates than a satisfied fool

Question 32

Mill’s criticism of Kantianism

Answer 32

You never hit a contradiction

Question 33

How Mill responds to the objection that utilitarianism takes too long to calculate what we are supposed to do

Answer 33

Human existence has been learning through experience which one is positive and negative utility

Question 34

How Mill answers the question, why be moral?

Answer 34

External reasons: social pressure, and pressure from God

Internal reasons: conscious will be happy if you do the right thing

Question 35

Know what a naturalist error theorist would think about proof of utility

Answer 35

Errory theorist would deny that pleasure is good. science doesn’t tells about goodness and what humans desire isn’t always good

Question 36

Know the various difficult cases for ulititarism

Answer 36

• no partiality
• morality is too demanding - there are no supererogatory actions
• the justice objection - chop one up to save five
• can’t count for inartistic rights
• humans are good for carrying pleasure and pain but the body itself doesn’t matter

Question 37

Do utilitarians believe in objective moral truths

Answer 37

Yes. No matter what culture, you should always maximize utility; equality should matter across all countries

Question 38

Why don’t utilitarians believe in rights

Answer 38

container shit. can’t account for inartistic rights